WJCC Stories - Mike Morris

Posted by: WJCC on Tuesday, May 27, 2014

During his childhood, Mike Morris learned how to swim at Westside JCC, developed friendships with other neighborhood families and played games with other neighborhood kids at Westside JCC . The stage area on the Berman Patio was the hot spot for all the activities such as arts and crafts, prayer, etiquette and singing. “There was always something going on, [at the stage area], a lot of kids, a place you could go and not worry about negative issues you know like today…I felt safe there.” He fondly recalled riding his bike back and forth to the JCC, skateboarding from there to the farmers market and back. The Center was like a “village” he said because, “if you were not good they would tell your mom and dad. It was a good time.”

For Mike, time spent at Westside JCC was a family experience. His father would volunteer at the Center and his mom taught classes to kids from the JCC. His two older brothers, Harold and Cecil, would join Mike and play basketball and hide and seek at the Center. Mike shared that, “I definitely have a positive and happy feeling overall when I think of Westside JCC… (now) when I go to that building, I just stop sometimes and want to listen and hear the sounds I used to hear. It’s in my heart like that.”